Is McCain’s health-care vote revenge for losing to Obama?

Is McCain’s health-care vote revenge for losing to Obama?

Written By Solomon Jones

There was a time I respected John McCain. After all, he was a patriot — a hero who had endured torture in the service of his country. But now, with his vote to set in motion a process that will cause millions of Americans to lose their health care, McCain has betrayed the most vulnerable among us, and he has done so in spectacular fashion.

With every Democratic senator voting against the procedural measure that will allow GOP health-care legislation to move forward, McCain — whose medical condition should make him appreciate the importance of health insurance — voted with his fellow Republicans. His vote brought the measure to a tie, which was subsequently broken by Vice President Mike Pence.

Thanks to McCain’s vote, at least 22 million Americans could lose their health insurance over the next decade, according the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s score of the last iteration of the GOP’s health-care legislation.

Though McCain says he can’t support the bill in its current form, I don’t see a scenario that won’t result in millions losing insurance. That’s what makes the vote unforgivable.